San Jose State coach Dick Tomey thinks Ron Zook “has a chance to have himself a heck of a team.”
“We got out-coached, outplayed, out-toughed, out-disciplined,” Tomey said Saturday after Illinois beat the Spartans 40-19 before a crowd of 49,276 at Memorial Stadium. “They dominated the line of scrimmage both ways. We got outdone in every phase of the game.”
The players in the forefront of the Illini’s second straight victory were quarterback Tim Brasic; running backs Pierre Thomas, E.B. Halsey and Rashard Mendenhall; tight end Melvin Bryant; kicker Jason Reda; linebacker Remond Willis; strong safety Kevin Mitchell; and defensive tackles Ryan Matha and Chris Norwell.
In his second start, Brasic completed 17 of 22 passes for 199 yards and scored on runs of 2 and 25 yards.
“He had much better control of the offense,” Zook said of the junior, who had played only bit parts in two games before last weekend’s overtime victory over Rutgers. “He was much more relaxed.”
Bryant caught a team-high four passes for 52 yards, all in the first half, adding a dimension to the passing game and compensating for a minor injury to the Illini’s No. 1 receiver, Kendrick Jones, who played only in the first half and didn’t have any receptions.
Thomas, Halsey and Mendenhall gained an aggregate 218 yards on 41 carries and caught six passes for 50 yards.
“E.B. and Pierre are awfully good running backs and so is Rashard,” said Zook, who didn’t use Mendenhall, the highly-regarded freshman from Niles West, in the opener. “Rashard is a guy who has a little different gear–he has a burst. All three give you a little different look. Rashard just has to improve on pass protection.”
Reda kicked field goals of 26, 33, 21 and 45 yards and converted all four of his extra-point attempts. Reda also handled kickoffs after Steve Weatherford, the Illini’s All-America candidate, sprained his left ankle when his punt was blocked on the first possession of the game.
Willis led the Illini in tackles with eight and his 27-yard interception runback to the Spartans’ 5-yard line set up Thomas’ 3-yard touchdown run that broke a 7-7 tie with 6 minutes 8 seconds left in the first quarter. After spotting the visitors a 7-0 lead on the 15-yard drive that followed the blocked punt, the Illini scored the next 40 points.
Willis also collaborated with Mitchell, Matha and Norwell on a goal-line stand in the second quarter.
San Jose State had first-and-goal at the Illinois 2-yard line and a third-down offside penalty moved the ball inside the 1. But Illinois held and took over after Mitchell threw running back Yonus Davis for a 5-yard loss on fourth down.
San Jose’s running attack was virtually non-existent. The Spartans had a meager 15 yards to show for 25 rushing attempts.
“Any win is a confidence-builder and we go into next week [at No. 16 California] 2-0 for the first time since 2001,” Matha said. “Hopefully, we’ll give Cal all they can handle.”
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nmilbert@tribune.com
